… Sonny Knight was, and is great. He came across as the kind of guy who comes from bygone era, while effectively staying relevant. His music has life. He utilized three backup singers and a full band, he was doing it right. At the peak of the numbers in the crowd, Sonny rocked the stage like a champion. The best song of the day was “Hey Girl”, naturally, but even less familiar songs moved those in attendance. From behind the performers looking out, one could see raw excitement, and the power which Sonny sustained. His set was charged and intimate, and precisely electric. It was a pleasant and unexpected surprise, having never seen him before.

Sonny played for some time, and then the show was over. The crowd was pleased. I exited the stage at about the same time in hopes of having a one-on-one conversation with the artist. I ran around back as he was being mobbed by fans and snapped at with cameras. He took time for the adoration and with a broad smile he vanished. Sonny was something; to me, he seemed like a classic soul singer from the distant past, yet he was thriving in 2014. I wondered where his time machine was parked. Searching, I found nothing…

As Mayhem brought Blackened Fest to St. Paul, MN on June 9, 20009, the vibe was unexpectedly and unfortunately even more somber than one would have hoped for the return of some of Norwegian black metal’s reigning elite. After already suffering the crippling blow of a late visa-related cancellation from Marduk before the tour began, the rest of the lineup except for Mayhem (Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, and Withered) were forced to cut the trek short the night before St. Paul due to a variety of complications described by Justina V. over at Metal Injecction. Whether or not Justina’s indictment of Mayhem’s responsibility for the festival’s implosion is accurate or not, I certainly can understand her resentment as a fellow Metal Injection reporter (based in MPLS) and someone who was on the opening band’s guestlists that never arrived. To put it shortly, it was a huge bummer to be greeted with the cancellation announcement sign as I walked in, and it made me skeptical I’d even enjoy what was now becoming an expensive evening for me (although, I must say, the ticket price was actually slashed to 1/2 the original cost for those who bought advanced tickets, and refunds and free Absu tickets for next week were being offered to attendees – the venue was graciously being overly apologetic for the unfortunate circumstances).

While performances from Cattle Decap, Cephalic Carnage, Withered, and Marduk would never occur, Mayhem pushed on against the odds and advice of financial experts, carrying the torch of blackness alone on the last dates of a now-solo headlining tour. Playing to a crowd of devoted Twin Cities extreme metal faithful, Mayhem’s blistering, theatrical black metal and a collection of local bands that adequately replaced the openers who were dismissed eventually won over the dejected.

Chris Deline, my pal from CultureBully, has already posted an excellent review that breaks down the action for the show set-by-set, so I invite you to check out his recap and live videos to see exactly how the entire night panned out.

For my part, every opening act that played brought something unique to the table, just as I had originally expected heading into the night. Deterioration‘s two-instrument aural assault was the most eye-opening physical display of death-grind talent I’ve seen all year, while Grand Demise of Civilization‘s straight-forward black metal offered one of the most spectacularly ceremonious performances you’re likely to see from a band of any kind in this region. To top it all off, the classic campy metal humor of deathgore lifers in Anal Blast helped to lighten the mood considerably before Mayhem finally took control of the room.

By the time Mayhem hit the stage, the crowd was primed and ready to unleash under their dizzying spell of disgusting black metal. As Necrobutcher, Hellhammer, and the guitar duo of Morfeus and Silmaeth blasted out the storm, Attila Csihar hung his rope mockingly above the thrashing mass of a darkness in front of him, taunting the pulsing mosh pit with an oppressive arm and repeatedly ridiculing the disgraces of humanity. The stage set up was grizzly and overbearing, as well; however, one such as myself couldn’t help being sucked sucked in by this chaotic display from such a legendary and influential band beneath the dazzling lights at Station 4 in the much the same way that many people are by shocking horror films. Until the end, Mayhem never ceased to shock and impress my blackened heart after so many years throughout the lenght of their performance; when it’s said and done, they put together a show well-worth the ticket price and surely were appreciated by everyone who they stuck it out and played for (despite their inevitable financial loss).

Concluding our coverage at Station 4, I’ve got my own video from Mayhem’s set as well as some pretty vivid photographic evidence from the night. The media continues below:

Victims, Trap Them, and Black Breath stormed through Minneapolis yesterday evening with what could easily be called the most vicious hardcore tour making rounds in the U.S. early this summer, and all bands displayed an overwhelming presence despite the underwhelming crowd size (..for better or worse, I’m speculating that a local concert calendar that is more saturated than usual with hardcore shows courtesy of the ENR 15th Anniversary and tightening working class budgets are to blame..). However simply put, Victims were on top of their game, Trap Them proved to be more than worthy of the praise that has been thrown of them by some of extreme noise music’s most respected names (these days Napalm Death and Disfear even cite them as influences, to give you an idea), and Black Breath, while young, introduced the crusty part of my evening with a heavy swagger rocking through their dirty modern hardcore. Personally, I just felt lucky to be one of the few who got to pit it up to the live tornado of chaos contained within the cavernous club in west bank Minneapolis for one night; and lucky for you lazy punks, I brought my camera and captured some guerilla style videos and photos from the show which follow below:

There isn’t much that could be said about the lovable enthusiastic crowd-pleasing performance from Santigold at First Avenue this Thursday (May 28, 2009) that wasn’t recapped already. Santi’s main man Jon Jon (..same dude that got that extended shout out from the stage; seriously how’s she know know that well, man?) compiled a great list of links of people who have already reviewed the night, so I’m doing my best to bring something unique to you all.

As such, here’s my view from the night via video and photos, right from the middle of the dance floor; somewhat out of my element, I’ll just say that I was made to feel right at home amongst the flailing arms and sweat bodies by the time the show hit full stride. We’ll start things off with “Creator”, and get this MPLS internet dance party started like no other….

Last night (Wednesday, May 27, 2009), the legendary crust-punk innovators in Amebix played to an enthusiastic crowd of local Minneapolis punks, many of whom at been waiting to see the band for nearly 25 years. Suffice to say, it was the perfect choice to help celebrate the 15th Anniversary of Extreme Noise Records.

The Minneapolis natives and all around cool dudes in War//Plague and Misery kicked off the festivities with some straightforward crust-punk; both bands acknowledged that Amebix was now fulfilling a lifetime dream. I couldn’t agree with them more; it was simply an honor to be able to rock out with such influential musicians as a person who has grown to adore what they first pioneered. Even after 25 years apart, there’s no signs of age or inadequacy, as the songs were breathing with new life in front of the overly joyous packed house of crusties. And just to give credit where credits due, I believe Roy Mayorga (ex-Nausea, Thorn, Soulfly, Sepultura, etc.) must be commended for the thunderous backdrop he lays down for the band, as well; it was completely unexpected to see him behind the kit, but as the flying bodies proved, he definitely belonged there.

Additionally, I recorded an epic video of Amebix’s “Chain Reaction” (No Gods… No masters!!!!) that can be viewed directly below. Keep reading the whole post to catch the photos that I captured, as well as a live video from Misery.

Among Twin Cities residents, it’s well known that an appreciation for the arts permeates our community to an almost absurd degree compared to many other cities in this nation. After moving from the smaller community of Winona to the cities four years ago, I began to really realize how much the arts tend to be integrate into the lives of the people in the area.

Truthfully, over half of my coworkers I’ve had since moving here have been playing in an active band while working the day job at FxO. At one point, literally the entire staff was playing music at some capacity!

I’m always psyched when one of them is playing a show for a variety of reasons; not only is it a great excuse for out-of-work co-worker bonding and free drink tickets (wink, wink), it’s an opportunity to support truly independent local music at the venues that deserve it. On Saturday, my bud Jacob (drummer for Everybell and Whistle) was able to coax me into checking out the sweet post-hardcore/math-rock that he plays in, and so I set out to Big V’s for a night of abrasive noise rock.

Normally I would write a review for every show that I attend, but this week I’m just too jam-packed with finals and post-final celebrations to get my head right and properly give praise to the un-fucking-believable Gojira show (w/ The Chariot and Car Bomb) that I saw on Monday. However, for any doubters, I just want to set one thing straight – Gojira fucking rules. Period.

The band is on fire, playing a first-ever headlining tour in North America that finally brings their entire exceptional back catalog to virgin ears in the U.S., and they couldn’t have been playing in finer form then they were this week. If you have been waiting to see Gojira, now’s the time.

Enjoy the photos and videos that I captured throughout the night! I’m seriously surprised I thought to capture anything worthwhile – I’m not gonna lie; I was enthusiastically going apeshit like my 14 year old self at my first Spineshank show the whole time..

Like usual, I highly recommend that our main page readers click the “read more” link to view the rest of the media from the show. I’ve posted many more photos and a video of “The Art of Dying” that I think captures the power of the night pretty well. Enjoy! Continue reading →